Red Sox finally take down Evil Empire

Saturday

Sep 29, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2007 at 3:53 PM

After a dozen years, the AL East is finally theirs. The Red Sox claimed the American League East division title on Friday night with their 5-2 win over the Twins and the Baltimore Orioles’ 10-9 win over the Yankees about an hour later.

Bob Stern

After a dozen years, the AL East is finally theirs.
The Red Sox claimed the American League East division title on Friday night with their 5-2 win over the Twins and the Baltimore Orioles’ 10-9 win over the Yankees about an hour later.
The last time they won the division was 1995, and they saw the Yankees win 10 of the next 11 titles.
"I'd rather do it on the field," said Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, who was watching the Yankees and Orioles game in the clubhouse after the win.
"It's a more satisfying feeling to get the last out on the field."
At Camden Yards, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera coughed up a three-run lead in the ninth inning and the teams stood tied, 9-9, in the 10th inning.
"I'm still going to party," said Lowell.
The Sox moved within a win or a Yankees' loss of the division crown riding the right arm of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and that sound you hear was a giant sign coming from the Red Sox clubhouse.
If the Sox are to go far into the playoffs, they're going to need efforts like Friday's from Matsuzaka. He pitched seven brilliant innings and one less-than-terrific inning, but all in all it was a positive performance.
"I thought he was dialed in right from the bullpen," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "He had a good look in his eyes - confident - and it was awesome."
For the first six innings and the eighth inning, Matsuzaka kept the Twins off the scoreboard, allowing just four hits. In the seventh, he was touched for two runs but kept the damage to a minimum.
It was by far his best outing since Aug. 10 in Baltimore when he allowed one run on four hits in seven innings.
Since then, he's gone 1-4 with two no-decisions and, frankly, hasn't looked like the $103 million pitcher to Sox hoped they signed.
But he looked that way against the Twins. In eight innings, he allowed two runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out eight, and only in the seventh did the Twins send more than four batters to the plate.
He threw 119 pitches, 77 for strikes. He consistently threw his fastball in the 93-94 range and he parlayed that with sharp breaking balls.
"It was an important game so I really wanted to win today, and as I was pitching, I just kept telling myself that we were going to win today," said Matsuzaka. "From here, there are going to be many important games in a row and knowing that fact, I just wanted to set myself up and throw a good game. Hopefully, that will carry me into the playoffs."
In the seventh, with the Red Sox leading, 4-0, Matsuzaka gave up a leadoff home run to Justin Morneau and a run-scoring groundout to Brian Buscher. But he left another run at third base when he got Nick Punto to fly to center to end the inning.
"He kind of rose to the occasion," said Francona. "He understands the magnitude of these games. It's a good feeling. It was a little more adrenaline (than his May and June starats). He was ready to go. That was good to see."
The Sox jumped on Twins starter Kevin Slowey early, scoring two runs in the first inning and one in the third.
In the first, David Ortiz doubled with two outs and scored on Mike Lowell's single to right. J.D. Drew followed with a double down the left-field line to score Lowell.
In the third, Dustin Pedroia led off with a single and was forced at second on Ramirez's groundball to short. Ramirez went to second on a wild pitch, third on a single to right by Ortiz and scored on Lowell's groundout to third.
For Ortiz, the single marked his ninth straight hit and 11th straight time he reached base. The streak would end in the sixth when he grounded to second.
The Sox made it 4-0 in the sixth when Lowell doubled with one out and scored on Kevin Youkilis' bloop single into right with two outs.
Ortiz then started a new streak by hitting his 35th home run of the season, a solo shot into the Monster Seats in the eighth inning, for the Sox's final run.
Enterprise